这次征文由硅谷回音和把本地电台和文学杂志联合主办（http://bayecho.com/）。因为甜甜是硅谷回音的新任PR VP，所 以征文的英文翻译和传播也是甜甜自己做的工作。但是，她的entry 还是姗姗来迟。征文后来把截止日期推迟到本月底。她也就直到昨夜凌晨才完成。这么短的 entry 琢磨了这么久才写出来，她能给我什么 surprise 呢？

尽管是命题作文，我知道写这样的主题甜甜不乏心情故事，too much to write on, that I am a bit afraid she may be writing too much or overwhelmed by too much to write on.  她说她要以自己 unique 的方式表达出来。她做到了么？

早上一睁眼读着读着这个短小的篇什，眼圈湿润，一种温暖流向全身。她的每一行都有很多故事在后面。真地，没有白疼她，点点滴滴她都记在心里。有女如斯，夫复何求？

 

Tanya’s email gave me such a nice surprise early this morning that I cannot help sharing with you all.  This is for a Father’s Day competition organized jointly by a local radio station, a literature journal and the BayEcho community organization where Tanya serves as VP for PR/Marketing.    She made a super short entry with her unique style and showing signs of her passion for languages too (she is the top student in diagraming sentences in class and she believes that her linguistics is carried from me.)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tanya
Date: Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 5:27 AM
Subject: my father's day entry

Dad, daddy, baba, mis padre de pantalones, friend and confidant,

I’ve never been a particularly expressive person, whether in person or in writing, and, definitely, I have not properly conveyed to you how important you really are. So, using you as a model, allow me to list down the seven basic requirements of a daddy:

1) Daddy is a person who will hug me when I run to him, no matter how public the place or how old I become.

2) Daddy is the person who offers to piggyback me, even though my 5 foot 4 self is a lot heavier than my 3-year-old counterpart.

3) Daddy is the person who wakes up randomly at 3 am because he knows that I’m still awake and hungry. P.S. He makes me instant ramen.

4) Daddy is the person who’s still typing on a computer next to me in the dead of night, he doesn’t want me to feel lonely.

5) Daddy is the person who uses the oddest jokes to cheer me up when I’m sad. It’s OK, it makes me laugh anyways (though I can’t say it’s because the joke is funny).

6) Daddy is the person who will always read bedtime stories. (It used to be Winnie the Pooh, now it’s Steve Job’s biography).

7) Daddy’s a doter, daddy’s a warrior, and daddy sometimes does too much for me (though not in his opinion).

So, daddy, it’s not father’s day anymore, and I don’t particularly need that day to say anything special to you (hello, market holidays). So, let’s get a few things straight, you’re my daddy, and you’re not old because I said so.

Also, we’ll still be eating instant noodles together 20 years from now.
 

As a contrast, Just to compare with her Father’s Day poem  7 years ago when she was still in elementary school:

05.06.19

 

P.S. Here is another piece on Dad:

 

of all people in the world my dad is the clueless of all 
Date: August 05, 2006 

For example: my dad once used lotion and thought it was toothpaste. Another time when he went to get his hair dyed something went seriously wrong cause my dad's hair turned dark red, I called him Red Haired the Weirdo clown until his dye wore off. 

One day I went with my dad to go look at fireworks near my house, unfortunaly, my dad forgot to wear a suit, and he went out wearing a 背心和短裤. Good thing is he is my dad though clumsy he's my dad. 

Who cares anyway I'm silly too. People keep saying I laugh like I hiccup. 

Once at school when I came out of the bathroom my teacher and all my classmates were laughing at me because some toilet paper got stuck to my pants, so it looked like I grew a paper tail. That was my WORST NIGHTMARE. 

I only gave you these storys to make you laugh until you forgot how to argue. 

COmments:

◊ 好闺女，好爸爸 

◊ 有真情善表达，甜甜很甜。 

◊ 真情流露 

◊  父女感情很好

◊ 小棉袄

◊ He makes me instant ramen. 做师姐电灯泡时就有这手艺

◊  甜甜，蜜甜蜜甜的。 

◊  立委幸福啊！

～～～

Absolutely beautiful.  Poetic actually.  Makes me yearn more for the daughter I never had.

 ~~~~

I know what you mean. I’m very close to my dad … and now I’m thinking the card I gave him wasn’t nearly as special ;) haha.

~~~~~ 

Very nice and touching.  Sounds like you go the extra mile for her..   I hope I get emails like that from my little girls when they are older.   Right now I get simple cards and messages that are still very sweet from my kids..

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this is absolutely adorable! Thank you for sharing!

she is not your stereotypical Asian-American student. Although she is a brilliant student, she also has a very creative side -- which I absolutely love! 

~~~~~